Ferdinand And Al-Habsi Start In Thailand Friendly

08 July 2015
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading began their pre-season campaign with a 2-2 draw in Thailand against a Thai Premier League XI side this afternoon. The match took place at a hot and humid Thailand national stadium in front of a decent sized crowd. The game saw trialist, and potential signing, Ali Al-Habsi begin in goal and play half of the match before being swapped with confirmed new signing Jonathan Bond. Both goalkeepers conceded a goal each as the home side came from a goal down to take the lead, before the Royals leveled to make it 2-2 at full time.

The big news was the appearance of Anton Ferdinand who broke his Reading record by playing 59 minutes of the match before being replaced. Ferdinand left the pitch without injury to give Reading real hope that he could actually play a real part in the new season. Reading made a full set of substitutions, replacing the entire starting eleven across the match to give nearly everyone a run out. Although new striker Orlando Sa is on tour with the squad he was not judged to be match fit and missed out.

Stephen Quinn and Paul McShane who have both recently arrived from relegated Hull City made their first appearances, both coming off the bench on 74 minutes.

Tariqe Fosu, who has recently extended his contract with Reading FC, was the provider for the first goal. His cross was scored by Nick Blackman with 35 minutes on the clock. The Thailand side equalised just before half time from a free-kick, and then took the lead ten minutes into the second half. Pavel Pogrebnyak replaced Blackman with 16 minutes to play and got into the action with Reading's second goal when he scored from Dominic Samuel's cross.

Starting Eleven:

• Al-Habsi
• Gunter
• Obita
• Ferdinand
• Keown
• Tshibola
• Norwood
• Williams
• Taylor
• Fosu
• Blackman

Used Substitutes

• Bond
• Owusu
• Griffin
• Long
• McShane
• Quinn
• Kuhl
• Novakovich
• Akpan
• Kelly
• Samuel
• Pogrebnyak

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